Answer: At this plant we make all processed cheese and cheese powders. The butter is not made here, we don’t receive any milk here either.

Q: How does this plant in general connect with other businesses in the region and around the world?

A: “In the local area, we connect mainly through participation in the local chamber of commerce ... We’ve got competitors pretty close by that also make a little bit of butter and so typically we don’t collaborate a lot with them ... (However), even though you compete in one product category, you can actually be an ingredient supplier of another.”

Within dairy, Thomas said, there are close relationships, but there is always competition so they don’t compare many notes with others in the processed cheese industry.

“Depending on the product, we have a strong customer base in the East, we also have some in the upper Midwest.”

Q: What is processed cheese and how is it made?

A: “Well, without giving away all of our secrets here, the basic premise of making cheese is people receive milk and you process it, you remove whey and water and it coagulates into a cheese. There’s a lot of different ways to make cheese, there’s tons of different varieties. ... Typically, what we’re getting made for us then is in a commodity cheddar of some form. We then grind it back up and re-standardize it and it’ll become more uniform in nature and more consistent in its application.”

Dairy is a live commodity that changes over time, Thomas said. Land O’ Lakes can change its characteristics, for example its melting properties and to extend shelf life.

Q: What is the most difficult part of running a manufacturing plant?

A: “I think it’s really the complexity. We have an extreme number of formulas and extreme number of products, we’re running three shifts, sometimes we’re five days a week, sometimes we’re seven days a week ... The biggest thing I’d say, is the complexity of which the world is moving. It’s not nearly as simple as it once was.”

Thomas said technology has made the factory more complex compared to 1963, when the plant opened.

“You can’t walk 20 feet on the floor,” he said, and not see computers or sensors for standardizing product, or scanners for distribution.

Q: What might people be surprised to learn about your business or your employees?

A: “I think that probably one of the most amazing statistics is the tenure of our workforce. People that come to work here typically don’t leave. Sixty percent of our workforce has 25 or more years of service, and 40 percent has 30 years or more.”